Who knew that at age 19, I would be a World Champion PC gamer. When I was 13, I actually
played competitive billiards in professional tournaments and won four or ve games o guys
who played at the highest level. I actually thought of making a career of it, but at that young
age situations change rapidly. Because I’ve been blessed with great hand-eye coordination and
a grasp of mathematics (an important element in video gaming) I gravitated to that activity.
GOING PRO
I started professional gaming in 1999 when I entered the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional
League) tournament in Dallas and won $4,000 for coming in third place. Emerging as one
of the top players in the United States, a company interested in sponsoring me ew me to
Sweden to compete against the top 12 players in the world. I won 18 straight games, lost
none, and took rst place, becoming the number one ranked Quake III player in the world
in the process. Two months later I followed that success by traveling to Dallas and defending
my title as the world’s best Quake III player, winning the $40,000 grand prize. From there
I entered competitions all over the world, including Singapore, Korea, Germany, Australia,
Holland and Brazil in addition to Los Angeles, New York and St. Louis.
WINNING STREAK
I was excited to showcase my true gaming skills when defending my title as CPL
Champion of the year at the CPL Winter 2001 because I would be competing in a totally
dierent rst person shooter (fps) game, Alien vs. Predator II. I won that competition and
walked away with a new car. e next year I won the same title playing Unreal Tournament
2003, becoming the only three-time CPL champion of the year. And I did it playing a
different game each year, something no one else has ever done and a feat of which I am
extremely proud.
At QuakeCon 2002, I faced o against my rival ZeRo4 in one of the most highly
anticipated matches of the year, winning in a 14 to (-1) killer victory. Competing at Quakecon
2004, I became the World’s 1st Doom3 Champion by defeating Daler in a series of very
challenging matches and earning $25,000 for the victory.
Since then Fatal1ty has traveled the globe to compete against the best in the world, winning
prizes and acclaim, including the 2005 CPL World Tour Championship in New York City for
a $150,000 rst place triumph. In August 2007, Johnathan was awarded the rst ever Lifetime
Achievement Award in the four year history of the eSports-Award for “showing exceptional
sportsmanship, taking part in shaping eSports into what it is today and for being the prime
representative of this young sport. He has become the gurehead for eSports worldwide”.
Fatal1ty Story
